August 23, 2012

Here's a quick and easy origami project: a business card case or gift card holder. Use patterned gift wrap (I like heavier-weight wrapping paper for a sturdier case), graph paper, a paper bag, magazine pages, or origami paper. Decorate the case with washi tape or stamps for a cute way to present gift cards. It will look like you put a lot of thought and effort into a gift that was probably the easiest thing you could buy. Slacker.

Just kidding. Sometimes gift cards are the very best present.

To make a holder for a standard 3.5 x 2" business card, start with an 8.5" square of paper. For a standard gift card, use a 9" square.

Place the paper pretty side down. Fold the sheet in half vertically and open it back up.

Fold the left and right edges inward to meet the center fold.

Open the paper again. Fold each corner inward so that the corner points meet the nearest crease.

Close the left and right flaps.

Turn the paper over and fold the top down so that the exposed diagonal edges meet precisely at the fold.

Fold the bottom up in the same way, tucking the bottom edge into the diagonal flaps. They should overlap slightly.

Insert a card to make sure it fits, then fold the case in half. All done!

This is awesome! I was always a little intimidated by origami, but this seems easy enough. My current business card holding strategy is just throwing them in my purse, but that is not a good solution. Thanks for sharing!

Love it! I always love cool scrapbooking papers but never know what to do with them, besides sticking photos to them! Also can I just say I've been visiting your blog for over 2 years now and I love it! I love all of the fun tutorials, fonts and games you post!

This is perfect! Our eldest just graduated from high school and is seeking employment to help pay for college expenses next semester. A number of places have requested business cards so they can contact him in the event someone calls in sick. This will be the perfect for him to carry them!

This is exactly what I was looking for. Much better than buying anything and I can custom print whatever I want on them! Any ideas on how to keep these suckers closed? Glue dots don't stick to the paper stock I am using.

Yes, to "latch" them closed. I am putting anywhere between 20-30 business cards in these (I am using 11" square paper to allow for the thickness of that many cards and am putting the cards in both flaps) and a way to securely close them would be fantastic. I thought of using an elastic but thats not appealing and takes away from the elegance of this holder. Thanks!

You could make a slip in one of the flaps, put a ribbon through it, tape it on the inside (and secure the slip too to prevent it ripping open)and just fold the ribbon around and tuck the end of it under the folded ribbon to keep it in place. (It is hard to explain this clearly ;) )